It was a blanket of silence and caution that covered the news. The Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal was reportedly arrested: the information caused a lot of noise but its echo was stifled once it reached the corridors of power. Lapidary comment, Thursday evening, from the top of the State. Emmanuel Macron is “very concerned by his disappearance” and “expresses his unwavering attachment to the freedom of a great writer and intellectual”, cautiously distills those around him. For the rest, it is indicated that state services are mobilized to “clarify” the situation.
Silence also noted on the side of Michel Barnier's government. No press release, no tweet, nothing. Not even the beginning of a response to text messages on this subject, coming from the bench of ministers. Neither Rachida Dati at Culture, nor Jean-Noël Barrot at Foreign Affairs reacted. And for good reason, Thursday evening, Matignon discreetly sent an instruction to all ministries according to our information: “No communication from members of the government on Boualem Sansal, at this stage. » And to specify that the latter could prove “counterproductive”.
The slogan still stood on Friday, suggesting a complex situation, which could not tolerate the slightest interference. While state services are mobilized to ensure the writer's situation, we slip to the Quai d'Orsay.
In the political class, there is greater concern for the 75-year-old multi-award-winning author and holder of French nationality since this year. The first of the socialists, Olivier Faure, salutes on “X” “the free spirit” of the “compatriot (…) who fought corrupt power as much as Islamist terrorism”, and calls for his release. Like the president of the RN deputies, Marine Le Pen, who denounces “an unacceptable situation”, and the former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe who for his part praises a writer embodying “reason, freedom, humanism against censorship, corruption and Islamism.” “All means of pressure on Algeria must be activated,” says the head of the LR deputies Laurent Wauquiez.
What happened? According to the newspaper Le Monde, the Algerian authorities could have taken very badly recent statements by the writer to the controversial media Frontières, reputed to be close to the extreme right, taking up Morocco's position according to which Moroccan territory was truncated under colonization. French for the profits of Algeria.
“Editions Gallimard, publisher of the literary work of Boualem Sansal since the publication of Barbarian Oath twenty-five years ago, express their very deep concern following the arrest of the writer by the Algerian security services and call for the immediate release of the writer,” they wrote in a press release, broadcast Friday afternoon.
This episode comes in a context of already significant tensions between Paris and Algiers. This summer, France recognized Moroccan sovereignty in Western Sahara, disputed between Rabat and separatists supported by Algeria. Visiting Rabat in October, Emmanuel Macron called for opening “a new chapter” in the relationship with Morocco. Statements which now make any exchange, even diplomatic, with Algeria complicated.
